#1161

i am in a very similar situation to you both musically and gear wise. i make ambient /experimental / hiphop. I also have an ot and a norns.

norns does many things. it can be a sampler / synthesizer / sequencer / drum machine granulator etc. however it can only be one thing at a time so what you do and what you get out of it is up to you at a given moment. most of the scripts ( instruments ) it runs are immediate and fun to use, though i cant say there is anything yet that covers a more traditional mpc / sp sampler yet. new scripts are showing up all the time so maybe soon. i would recommend norns if you wanted to use something unfamiliar and fun that you could quickly get lost in and inspire ideas.

as far as comparing it to the ot, these are two different planets in different dimensions. the ot is designed to do many things, like norns, though unlike nonrs it is also designed to do them at once. this added depth leads to the lack of immediacy you mention. i’ve found that this is often the tradeoff with electronic music instruments. as far as user design is concerned it basically comes down to depth vs immediacy.

to me it sounds like the digitakt is the perfect fit for you no? it’s immediate and you can chop samples quickly and get very precise with your sample editing. seems like you could easily do dilla / madlib eque things ( and more ) on the digitakt. certainly much faster than norns as of now.

just to add, i love the ot. it is my favorite piece of gear. i hear you on the lack of immediacy though i’ve found that with some practice and setting up work templates, it just can’t be beat. especially for the kind of music you and i are interested in. i use norns and the ot together because they both do such different yet complimentary things. i use norns as an instrument in my setup meanwhile the ot is the main sample player / live sampler / sequncer / mixer. digitakt and norns would be a fun combo i’m sure.

i’m rambling here and i could go on forever about this. if you have more specific questions id be happy to help.

7 Likes
#1162

Is anyone sending midi from Norns to iOS through USB? If so, how do you do it? I would like to send midi from Norns into apps like Audiobus 3 and FM Player.

I am connecting my iPad to Norns via USB cable (using Lightning to USB 3 Camera adapter) and the iPad is not showing up as a device under Norns. Also, Norns is not showing up in Audiobus 3.

Other midi devices (e.g., midi keyboards, midi fighter twister) are showing up in Norns just fine for me. I am using Norns version 181101.

#1163

I’ve been using Norns Kria with all my iPad synths. I patch them together with the Sevilla Soft usb-usb in the middle and it works great.

3 Likes
#1164

You have the Host-to-Host issue. Both the iPad and norns are USB “Hosts” and can’t talk directly to each other like between a “Host” (computer) and “Devices” (midi keyboards).

as just mentioned, the Sevilla Soft usb-usb provides a solution to this problem.

3 Likes
#1165

Awesome, thanks for the quick diagnosis @Frogstar and @okyeron

Just ordered a Sevilla Soft midi usb-usb

1 Like
#1166

Just confirming Norns will work with a Grid 64 grayscale?

#1167

For some definition of “work” - yes.

But - not all scripts will be fully compatible (those that use grid brightness a lot). You may end up needing to modify scripts a bit.

2 Likes
#1168

Cheers. Just made the decision to use a later 128.

2 Likes
#1169

This was perfect to be honest. And I’d love to hear ur stuff!

The only thing I don’t like about digitakt is the 45 second limit and the lack of slice mode. There’s workarounds for it but still it makes me interested in another box.

Thinking about it more I think I might try an octatrack/norns/grids combo and ditch the bit box and DT.

#1170

Has anyone tried to use Norns with a grid 64? I thought it might work with earthsea, but it doesn’t light up. It gets seen by norns in system > devices and it does light up on boot, but nothing afterwards. Is it non-compatible with norns or it might be earthsea?

#1171

Is your 64 vari-bright? If not, led’s that should be dimly lit will instead be off. It should still work, just with less visual feedback.

#1172

It’s not, but I thought it could work anyway. The only tricky thing (but not that much) would be transposing.

#1173

I have a greyscale 64 grid, so I changed the led lines in earthsea, and this works for me. :slight_smile:

es64.lua

4 Likes
#1174

HAH, I knew I could count on you. Thank you very much, I’ll try it tonight :smiley:

2 Likes
#1175

Has anyone tried using Norns with Hermod to sequence their modular?

When I connect a USB A/B cable from Norns to the “usb device” input on Hermod, Hermod doesn’t seem to see any incoming data from the USB device. I’ve checked Devices on Norns and it does recognize the Hermod.

#1176

Norns is a USB host, so you’ll likely need to use the Host input. That’s how it works with Norns + Shuttle Control, anyway. :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#1177

Thanks, looks like I’ll need a usb A to A cable

1 Like
#1178

20 chars of I wish I’d seen this before I just sold mine.:persevere:

1 Like
#1179

unless the hermod can be a device, this won’t work. an A-A cable will just create a voltage problem-- i wouldn’t recommend this.

many posts elsewhere here about connecting two midi hosts.

#1180

The Hermod manual says that the device port is bi-directional, which I assume means that Hermod can be both a host and a device?